Why are surfers so fit?

Question

Do they work out or is surfing enough to keep them fit? Or is it just a looks thing for the beach? Ive never seen a fat surfer dude or chick before. And if they do work out what do they do?

Answer 1

Paddling a board through the water is akin to weight lifting.  Most serious surfers have great upper body strength.  Standing on a board and moving your feet to change direction and stay stable takes care of the lower body.

Answer 2

your arms get a great work out so does the rest of ur body

Answer 3

They have to use all of their muscles to be a surfer.  They get all the exercise that they need.

Answer 4

Cause we rock.

Answer 5

Because we use every muscle in our bodies to be good at it. Plus you tend to be really active for a couple of hours at a time if not the whole day.

Answer 6

ive seen a fat surfer , a macho ( WAYYYYY TOOO MUSCLE DUDE! ) surfer , a REALLY thin surfer ....

and they all surf really good!

it not all surfers that are fit! its wat they do by themselves and wat they do to there body that makes there body wat it looks like...

im a surfer but im preety healthy , not to fat not to thin. and not so fit haha

Answer 7

Because we use almost every muscle we have! And surfing keeps you in great shape and you can't really surf successfully if you're not in shape!

Answer 8

There are plenty of surfers who are over weight.  The ones who aren't, however, are usually fit because they do a lot of stuff to keep fit, whether deliberately just to keep fit or not is debatable.  

Surfing requires paddling, which works your entire upper body, arms, shoulders, back, and lungs (harder to breath while swinging your arms that way).  Surfing requires balance, which tends to force you to work you legs at least somewhat.  

Different surfers do different things to work out.  Some do a lot of other activities, some just surf.  There was recently a question about workouts during the "off season" or for getting ready for surfing.  The most common answers were push ups, swimming, and some other things like balance drills.

Answer 9

Because they need energy to swim and stand.

Answer 10

surfiing can be a workout

from paddling to duckdiving you have to be fit

Answer 11

If you are too big, you cannot surf very well. The surfers YOU see, are very good, and are at the top by natural and competitive selection.

Same idea with track and field.  See any overweight sprinters?  Any skinny shotputers?

Answer 12

Surfing takes up d**n close to every muscle in the body to maintain balance and equilibrium when you're out on the waves; moving water at a decent speed is a powerful force to keep up with.  Aside from that, it's fun, so they do it longer.

Answer 13

Trust me there are plenty of fat surfers, just not fat short boarders.  Surfing is a really good work out so if you do it a lot it does tend to keep you fairly fit.  I don't work out during "surfing season" but I do work out in the winter to help stay in shape.

Answer 14

I'm a surfer and I'm not fat but I ain't fit!!